Chance Meeting
by AssortedScribbler
Summary: A fleeting glance in a crowded street gives three people much to think about. MMAD.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or Albus Dumbledore or Minerva McGonagall or anything except the plot to this fanfic (unfortunately) so I just made up this little story for a little time when you need it. Ah, MMADness and HP do you so much good. Hums dreamily

**A/N: **OK, so this isn't most MMAD fic I've ever written, it's really just a snapshot of one day over a summer holiday in Harry's youth when his path and that of his future Head of House collide. I love the idea of a maternal Minerva for Harry, and I love writing her showing that side. It's not the best I've ever come up with, seems to be a running theme at the moment, but it was just so cute I couldn't help myself. At least, I think so. Please do let me know what you think of it, I love hearing your reviews and your opinions are always welcome! Please R&R!

**Summary: **A fleeting glance in a crowded street gives three people much to think about. MMAD.

Chance Meeting 

Minerva huffed a little as some boisterous youngsters pushed past her on the bustling and busy Muggle high street. Sending them a glare none of them noticed, she glanced behind her at the sweet shop that had so delighted her companion. It was the height of British summer and the sun had decided to make up for all the days it hid behind clouds, and shine with all the fury of a bonfire on each and every person. Much as Minerva disliked the rain, she disliked the heat far more, and had to keep waving cooling spells over herself every few minutes to keep the inevitable flush from her cheeks, without the Muggles seeing what she was doing. Damn Albus and his Muggle shopping!

The shop outside of which she reluctantly stood was named "Sweetey's Sweets For Everyone!" and the flashy board over the shop window proclaimed as much to the surrounding area. The very name made her eyes narrow and she was tempted to light a tiny fire on the corner just to mar the absurd letters a little. This shop was perfectly suited to the man who had entered it, quite a few minutes ago, Minerva's patience informed her. Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts and the most child-like person she knew, had nearly clapped his hands with glee when his eyes had alighted on the window.

After pleading with her to come inside and have a look at the sugary marvels he usually foisted on her during the particularly dull meetings they were made to sit through on a daily basis, he dragged her over to look. After she informed him smartly that she would not even cross the threshold while he was acting like an over-excited six year old, he gave up and went inside by himself, the disappoint barely registering on his face, it was so soon forgotten. It also meant he had, without thought, accepted the inevitability of his acting like a toddler; at least Minerva had that to smile over. The man was such a pest sometimes, they could have been at a café by now having a cooling glass of lemonade, but no, she had agreed to wait for him. Pulling at her collar a little, she subtly cast another cool spell over herself, wondering how much longer Albus could be fascinated by different kinds of sugar.

It was at that moment, her eyes lifted and caught sight of a thin, ebony-haired little boy being pulled along the other side of the street by a horse-like woman with a long neck. He looked as bored as she felt and because of the weather and lack of any kind of shade except when he hid behind the bulk of his companion, his hair was sticking to his neck and his glasses were sliding down to the end of his nose and he barely had time to push them back up before his aunt pulled him further on. Of course, Minerva knew that little boy. She would know him anywhere, even without the lightening shaped scar. Harry Potter, James and Lily's son.

Her attention focused solely on him, his face, the wrist his aunt clutched so tightly, his scrawny neck and baggy T-shirt and jeans. He looked so thin. Seeming to realise he was being watched (something he had inherited from James perhaps?) he looked around as Petunia paused by another window opposite Minerva and the sweet shop. He looked at her when he noticed she was the one staring at him and smiled uncertainly, obviously wondering why her eyes did not leave him. She smiled back sadly, knowing she could do no more and within seconds he had been hauled off further down the street with a small wince at the tug on his arm.

As much as she knew she should look away, Minerva could not drag her eyes from the boy until he could no longer be seen and no matter how she craned her neck, he was completely out of her sight now. She felt her heart sink as she recalled his pale complexion and skinny face. Then she felt a swell of pride as she remembered his eyes: Lily's eyes. And his hair, stuck up every which way, the same way James' used to do. He was still most definitely their son, despite how he was being raised. Feeling an uncomfortable lump rise in her throat, she swallowed and closed her eyes, breathing deeply.

Almost instantly, there was a gentle touch at her elbow and she felt Albus beside her, could almost see the concern on his features without even looking. Opening her eyes, she looked up into his aqua blue pools which reflected the sunlight perfectly and smiled, comforted. His expression flickered, a warm emotion passing behind his eyes but before she could analyse it, he waved it away and straightened, linking his arm through hers and smiling. She felt a tug at the corners of her mouth and fell into step beside him as they continued down the street, the opposite way to Harry's hurrying feet.

"What was troubling you, my dear? You seemed… miles away." He murmured, so no one could overhear for after all, they were in a Muggle public place and it would not do for someone to overhear this conversation, especially if it contained anything about _their world_. She had known he would ask; Albus never let anything pass him by if it concerned a friend. While it could be an irritating trait, in this case she found it rather endearing. She smiled again, faintly, at his description and thought how fitting it was. 'Not miles away,' she thought, 'just a few metres down the road…'

"I just saw…" She drifted off and paused her hurrying feet, forgetting how urgently she had wanted to find a café and looking back up the road towards where she had last seen Harry. The lump was again rising in her throat but she forced it down, swallowing purposefully. Albus also paused, the concern she knew would be on his face becoming more pronounced, while their stop caused a few people to bump into them and grumble as they shoved their way by, but Minerva didn't notice, having been trying to push her thoughts back to the present and away from the shadows of past faces that she would never see again.

"Saw who?" Albus asked, in a somewhat urgent tone, but gently as well, so as not to startle her. He clearly knew her thoughts were not centred on them. So considerate of him, but entirely unnecessary, she would not be startled by an urgent voice. A boy she had not seen for eight years, now that could unsettle her, but not Albus talking. She closed her eyes and brought her face back to her friend, as her eyes slid open.

"Harry. I saw Harry, walking by with his horse of an Aunt; he noticed me and smiled but… he didn't even know who I was! Oh Albus…" She whispered, lowering her face as she tried to master the sadness swelling up inside of her, knowing that this was neither the time, nor the place, for this kind of emotion. This grief was old, and though it still hurt, Minerva would have to learn to get past it. He gathered her into his arms, resting his head on hers while manoeuvring them to the side of the street, where they were less likely to be bowled over by some careless person.

"Minerva, you know we were right to leave him there." Albus said quietly and firmly, holding her head gently against him and kissing her hair with all the comfort he had to give. She nodded, nestling closer into the crook of his neck and inhaling deeply, the scent of sherbet lemons heavy on him, mixed with the other assorted sweets he usually kept on his person somewhere. It was particularly strong just then; the smell of various crazy sugary marvels was still clinging to his robes from the shop he had been in. She took comfort from that, that some things would always be the same. Albus would always be Albus. And she would always love him.

"I know, but I still miss him. I miss James and Lily." The tears, which had been rising up in her eyes, finally choked her and he kisses her head again, wishing there was something he could do to help the woman in his arms, the woman he loved more than anything else. She clung to him, a heavy feeling rushing up her torso and gripping her heart in a despair that she knew she had to fight. Neither James nor Lily would want her to grieve forever. Albus was still with her, not all was lost.

"He'll be ours to look after in a few years my dear, and then, if he's anything like his father, you'll be seeing far too much of him!" Albus muttered before chuckling, his memories of James and Marauders' pranks flooding his mind and making him truly smile. They had been quite the troublemakers of their day, and what fun they had been to watch! He heard a muffled sound from beneath him and knew Minerva was thinking virtually the same thing as him. He could almost feel her smile. She sniffed and drew away, looking up at him gratefully.

"You're right Albus, of course you are, but still. He looked so thin! They can't be feeding him properly, and whenever I drop by their son, whatever his name is, "darling Duddy-kins" or some other ridiculous concoction of a name his mother continuously comes up with, looks like a pig in a wig! Maybe I should…" She left her sentence unfinished as her eyes once again swung around to look after the way Harry had been pulled. She hated to think of that unhappy expression in his eyes, the unloved look that Sirius had had. He didn't know there were people out there who loved him, people who thought about him and what he was doing every single day, wishing him well. People like her.

"No. Maybe nothing. You do enough when you 'drop by' anyway, I seem to recall an incident during which you grew his hair back?" His tone was striving to reprimand her but it was too amused to have any effect, except perhaps a small, faint blush in her cheeks. She suppressed the grin and dragged her gaze back to the man before her. "We cannot help him any more yet. Once he gets to Hogwarts my dear, he is all yours, but until then, we cannot, _must not_ do anything." He replied in a definite tone, one he had not been sure he would be able to sustain, but it stayed level. She sighed with a sweet tenderness and he leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her temple.

"Be still my fierce lioness, for your cubs will be home soon." He whispered to soothe her, rubbing a hand up and down her back in a way he hoped she found comforting. He smiled at the small blush gracing her beautiful face, from his kiss or the touch at her back, he didn't know but he did know she didn't really mind; she just wasn't used to it. She looked up into his eyes and smiled, in a beautiful and bittersweet way before leaning up on her toes and brushing her lips against his. They shared a brief kiss before she dropped back and he held out his arm to continue their shopping, a silly grin on his face she could not help laughing at even as her mind returned to thoughts of cool, sweet lemonade and a quiet chair in a café off the busy street.

As they began to stride off down the busy highway of people, joining the throngs of unnamed bodies and being swept up in the waves of innumerable people they had parted company with for a few seconds, Minerva became aware again of how hot she was, and how desperate she was for that lemonade and she made this clear to Albus, but while the day ran on much in the same way it always would, a corner of Minerva's mind was clouded with a small, skinny, dark-haired little boy who had taken comfort from a stranger's smile. She would visit him tonight, she decided. He needed to know he wasn't alone, and though all he would see was an innocuous tabby cat rubbing up against his legs and head while he drifted to the realm of sleep, even that was something.


End file.
